Petters's to learn his fate in St. Paul, at least for now

Tom Petters's legal team was whining that the media had been too mean to them. Therefore Petters can't get a fair trial and they should go somewhere wild like Des Moines or Milwaukee instead. Unfortunately they forgot that Petters is a well-known businessman in Minnesota accused of a $3.5 billion Ponzi scheme. Kind of a big deal, so the media should be commended for staying on the story.

"While some of the media coverage, admittedly, has been less than flattering to the defendant, the court cannot conclude on the present record that it has been 'so inflammatory or accusatory' that one must presume defendant cannot obtain a fair trial here," Kyle wrote in a three-page order.

Kyle said he would revisit the issue when prospective jurors are interviewed at trial time to determine if they are biased or hold predispositions toward Petters.

There was a pretty good zinger: "The government also said Petters and his attorneys had "fostered and promoted" some of the pretrial news coverage through news conferences, interviews and news releases."